Come, Take a Trip With Me

Let’s, you and I, take a trip. No need to get all dressed up. A packed bag isn’t necessary. What we are going to do is take a mental journey. At first, we will journey on the inside of our wants and dreams. Then, afterward, we will take a geographic, across the world journey together.

Don’t you wish things were easy? I mean, why work for things when life would be so much easier to just have them given to us.

And if we must work, does work have to be such a drudge? And if we must work, wouldn’t it be great if we were paid riches rather than some miniscule wage?

From our morsels of income, we pay rent or a mortgage. We pay for childcare, for healthcare, for our education, for electric, for gas, for transportation, for groceries, for cell phone service, for streaming or cable, for clothes, for upkeep and repairs. That at best leaves little left over or, more likely, we find ourselves in a financial hole.

Wouldn’t it be nice if everything was given to us? Free healthcare, paid parental leave, paid family leave, free childcare, free preschool, and free or subsidized higher education. While we’re at it, how about free housing? I mean food and water are necessities, and so is shelter. We spend most of our money on housing. Throw that in too!

I’m not getting any younger. I have a limited number of days to live, a set number of hours per day. I don’t want to spend all that struggling to survive. So, give me a 35-hour-work week at most, and 5-weeks-paid vacation for starters. And I don’t want to work until I die, so let me retire at age 60. I’ve paid taxes as have my forefathers, let the government support me when I’m sick, when I’m unemployed, when I get fired, when I don’t want to work, and when I decide I’m too old to labor. On this journey of the mind, how does that sound? Are you happy now?

“Well yes,” you answer. Now, don’t be selfish. I mean if you get all this, shouldn’t everyone? “Well, I guess so”, you say. But why limit it to your neighbors and fellow citizens? If a human being in another nation doesn’t have these benefits, shouldn’t they be allowed to come to our country and get what you get? Your answer, “I think so! Yes, that’s good”. So, with all this, do you think more people would come to our nation? “Yes, I know I would”. And if more and more come to our nation to get these things, do you think at some point the spigot of money would run out? “Oh”, you pause, “I didn’t think of that”.

Now take the trip with me across the ocean. Where should we travel to? Let me think… Let’s go to France. It’s pretty there this time of year. So, we arrive at the city of Paris, the City of Light. What do you see? Light? Or fire? France is on fire. Why? What do the people of France have to complain about? 52% of their population is supported by the government. They have free healthcare, free childcare, free preschool, highly subsidized higher education, subsidized housing, generous unemployment, 35-hour-work weeks, 5 weeks of vacation, retirement at age 60, and this is offered to anyone who crosses their borders – citizen and non-citizen alike. They have all this and they are burning the place down. Things are so cush there, that their economy is in decline because so many don’t produce. The nation is about to go bankrupt because there is little money flowing in and so much going out. All are demanding the government do more.

Socialism leads to government dependence which leads to Communism which leads to full-blown dictatorship. The French people who left God and common sense are now unruly spoiled mobs. They no longer have a purpose. They are idle and the idle hands produce crime, lawlessness, and riots. Do we want this for our nation? I hope you don’t. It is time Americans go back to work. We provide for ourselves. We quit living for retirement, and we save for what retirement we seek. We quit voting for the politicians who promise to give us stuff. We quit looking to government to save us, to carry us, to provide for us. We get in Church. We serve the Lord. We live by His Commands. And when we are in need, we look to God who will provide through our families and through His Church.